In a recent interview Rio Ferdinand said we have far too few qualified coaches in this country with only 6,000 coaches with a B, A or Pro Licence.

In Spain there are 25,000 and in Germany 35,000.

He also said in this country there are only around 640 3G Astro pitches; in Germany there are more than 5,000, big difference.

So I ask the question, where are we really going wrong in this country?

One of the big problems in my opinion relates to the facilities and environments that Rio has mentioned. There are just not enough good facilities for our young boys and girls to play in.

Over the past couple of years I have been helping out at Harvesters in St Albans, where two of my young sons play.

The club has done a fantastic job with the facilities they provide and continue to strive to make the footballing experience for young boys and girls a more enjoyable experience.

However, I have been amazed at some of my findings that I continue to see on Saturday and Sundays at other clubs. To top it off the behaviour of a minority of parents is absolutely disgusting and at times intimidating for youngsters to play in.

Some of the things that I have seen over the last month has left me shaking my head and think that the FA and The Premier League need to come up with some solutions and more importantly more finance or we are not going to move forward very quickly.

In the last four weeks at other clubs I’ve seen things like, at an Under-7 game, parents shouting and screaming at the side of the pitch, managers shouting and screaming and walking up and down at the side of the pitch.

The list goes on; a five-a-side pitch that was 70 yards long and 18 yards wide, the penalty areas were not even lined up, one was two yards further over to one side than the other.

Last week at the same venue as the Under-7 game, in my own Under-11 game, I had the opposition assistant manager walking up and down pitch side influencing his linesman, trying to influence the referee and standing directly in front of me so I could not see (I sit down when watching my team) trying to get a reaction from me.

We are talking Under-11’s here.

In a very tight game what I heard next was unbelievable, a parent of the opposition asked the referee how long was left in the game, the referee replied one-and-a-half minutes, the parent then lifted his arm and rolled up his sleeve to show he was starting his stop watch.

In 37 years from grass roots to The Premier League I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.

I certainly don’t have all the answers but I want to put some thoughts of solutions to you and see what you think.

  • The rules for small sided games have moved in the last year, five-a-side, seven-a-side, nine-a-side and moving to 11-a-side at Under-13. The FA should demand standard pitch sizes for each age group and these be adhered to.
  • Technical areas where Manager/Coaches stand.
  • Pitch-side ropes or barriers.
  • The shouting of instructions from the parents' side of the pitch should be banned. Failure to comply then parents will be asked to leave.
  • Local FA’s should pay clubs for a child and welfare officer at every venue or provide their own local 0fficer at every club's home ground. It will act as a deterrent.
  • Clubs should get funding to have their own 3G Astro Pitches, very expensive but it needs to be done considering the stats I have given at the top of this article.
  • The FA should run Level 1 and 2 Coaching Courses, Youth Modules, First Aid and Child Protection courses inside clubs with the facilities that are good enough.

From the points that I make I believe all would help the footballing experience for the young boys and girls.

Nearly everyone who assist at their clubs are volunteers and I totally respect that, but most of all they need educating about what is and is not acceptable, and sometimes a reminder of why you are doing this, is it for yourself or for the children?

Just think what could be done if every Premier League Club was made to give £10,000,000 of their £120,000,000 back to the grass roots game?

I’ll leave you to ponder on this one.